Veterans symbolically discard service medals at anti-NATO rally
Veterans symbolically discard service medals at anti-NATO rally
(Source: Reuters)
CHICAGO (Reuters) – Nearly 50 U.S. military veterans at an anti-NATO rally in Chicago threw their service medals into the street on Sunday, an action they said symbolized their rejection of the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Some of the veterans, many wearing military uniform shirts over black anti-war t-shirts, choked back tears as they explained their actions. Others folded an American flag while a bugle played “Taps,” which is typically performed at U.S. military funerals.
“The medals are supposed to be for acts of heroism. I don’t feel like a hero. I don’t feel like I deserve them,” said Zach LaPorte, who served in Iraq in 2005 and 2006.
LaPorte, a 28-year-old mechanical engineer from Milwaukee, said he enlisted in the Army at 19 because he felt there were few other options. At the time, he could not afford to stay in college.
“I witnessed civilian casualties and civilians being arrested in what I consider an illegal occupation of a sovereign nation,” LaPorte said.
He said he was glad the United States had withdrawn its combat troops from Iraq, but said he did not believe the NATO military alliance was going to leave Afghanistan.
On Sunday, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen opened the two-day summit of the 26-member alliance saying there would be no hasty exit from Afghanistan.
A veteran from New York who only gave his name as Jerry said: “I don’t want any part of this anymore. I chose human life over war, militarism and imperialism.”
The veterans had hoped to present their medals to a NATO representative. The closest they could get was the fence ringing the McCormick Place convention center about a block from where U.S. President Barack Obama and other leaders were meeting. The veterans threw their medals toward the convention center.
Matt Howard, 29, who served in the Marines from 2001 to 2006, said the rate of suicides among veterans returning from the wars is high.
“These medals are not worth the cloth and steel they’re printed on. They’re representative of failed policies,” said Howard, a spokesman for Iraq Veterans Against the War.
Former U.S. Army Sergeant Alejandro Villatoro, 29, of Chicago, served during the Iraq 2003 invasion and in Afghanistan in 2011.
He said he suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome and depression and gave back three medals – one “War on Terrorism” medal, one for participating in the Iraq war and a NATO medal from the Afghanistan war. He said he wants the war in Afghanistan to end.
“There’s no honor in these wars,” said Villatoro, before he threw away his medals. “There’s just shame.”
(Editing by Greg McCune and Stacey Joyce)
May 19, a day of heroes
May 19, a day of heroes
(new-power.org)
Today, May 19th, we celebrate the lives of two heroes of the anti-imperialist struggle. We celebrate the birth of Malcolm X, one of the greatest leaders of the Black liberation struggle against the United States. Although not a communist, Malcolm X was an important freedom fighter who stood with oppressed peoples everywhere in their struggle against imperialism. His life was tragically cut short by an assassin’s bullet. His words, his example, inspired and continues to inspire the Black liberation movement to this day. He was an important figure in the development of later movements, including the Black Panther Party in the 1960s.
Today is also the birth day of Ho Chi Minh, “Uncle Ho.” Ho Chi Minh was the communist leader of the Vietnamese communist and anti-imperialist struggle. His struggle inspired the whole world. Che Guevara, the great Latin American internationalist and communist, pointed to the importance of the Vietnamese struggle as an example for the whole world when he called for “two, three, many Vietnamese.” Lin Biao, the great Chinese communist, also pointed to their heroic struggle. People everywhere saw how the people power of the Vietnamese overcame the technological terror and financial might of the United States as the imperialists waged their unsuccessful genocide against the people of Indochina. Their victory against imperialism reminded humanity that the dawn follows even the darkest night, as Ho Chi Minh reminds that “after sorrow comes joy”:
Everything changes, the wheel of the law turns without pause.
After the rain, good weather.
In the wink of an eye
The universe throws off its muddy cloths.
For ten thousand miles the landscape
Spreads out like a beautiful brocade.
Gentle sunshine. Light breezes. Smiling flowers,
Hang in the trees, amongst the sparkling leaves, All the birds sing at once.
Men and animals rise up reborn.
What could be more natural?
After sorrow comes joy.
Great days are ahead of us, comrades. We are a movement of heroes. Our journey is long and hard, but with each day, we accomplish small victories. Do not let the flies bother us. Keep marching. The future is ours. Long live the Leading Light!
A Global Crime Spree — What’s NATO Ever Done?
A Global Crime Spree
What’s NATO Ever Done?
by JOHN LaFORGE
(Source: Counterpunch)
Wondering why anyone would confront NATO’s summit in Chicago this month? A look at some of its more well-known crimes might spark some indignation.
Desecration of corpses, indiscriminate attacks, bombing of allied troops, torture of prisoners and unaccountable drone war are a few of NATO’s outrages in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Yemen and elsewhere. On March 20, 2012 Pakistani lawmakers demanded an end to all NATO/CIA drone strikes against their territory. As reported in The New York Times, Pakistan’s foreign secretary Jalil Jilani said April 26, 2012, “We consider drones illegal, counter-productive and accordingly, unacceptable.” On May 31 last year, Afghan President Hamid Karzai gave what he called his “last” warning against NATO’s bombing of Afghani homes, saying “If they continue their attacks on our houses … history shows what Afghans do with trespassers and with occupiers.”
While bombing Libya last March, NATO refused to aid a group of 72 migrants adrift in the Mediterranean. Only nine people on board survived. The refusal was condemned as criminal by the Council of Europe, a human rights watchdog.
NATO jets bombed and rocketed a Pakistani military base for two hours Nov. 26, 2011—the Salala Incident— killing 26 Pakistani soldiers and wounding dozens more. NATO refuses to apologize, so the Pakistani regime has kept military supply routes into Afghanistan closed since November.
The British medical journal Lancet reported that the US-led unprovoked 2003 bombing, invasion and military take-over of Iraq—which NATO officially joined in 2004 in a ‘training’ capacity—had resulted in over 665,000 civilian deaths by 2006, and 200,000 in the UN-authorized, 1991 Desert Storm massacre led primarily by the US with several NATO allies.
On April 12, 1999, NATO attacked the railway bridge over the Grdelica Gorge and Juzna Morava River with two laser-guided bombs. At the time, a five-car civilian passenger train was crossing the bridge and was hit by both bombs. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch accused NATO of violating binding laws that require distinction, discrimination and proportionality.
NATO rocketed the central studio of Radio Televisija Srbije (TRS) in Belgrade, the state-owned broadcasting corporation, on April 23, 1999 during the Kosovo war. Sixteen civilian employees of RTS were killed and 16 wounded when NATO destroyed the building. Amnesty Int’l reported that the building could not be considered military, that NATO had violated the prohibition on attacking civilian objects and had therefore committed a war crime.
Headlines chronicle NATO’s crime spree
“U.S. troops posed with body parts of Afghan bombers.” Los Angeles Times, April 18, 2012
“Drones At Issue…: Raids Disrupt Militants, but Civilian Deaths Stir Outrage.” New York Times, March 18, 2012
“G.I. Kills 16 Afghans, Including 9 Children In Attacks on Homes.” New York Times, March 12, 2012
“NATO Admits Airstrike Killed 8 Young Afghans, but Contends They Were Armed.” New York Times, Feb. 16, 2012
“Informer Misled NATO in Airstrike That Killed 8 Civilians, Afghans Say.” (Seven shepherd boys under 14.) New York Times, Feb. 10, 2012
“Video [of U.S. Marines urinating on dead Taliban fighters] Inflames a Delicate Moment for U.S. in Afghanistan.” New York Times, Jan. 12, 2012
“Commission alleges U.S. detainee abuse.” Minneapolis StarTribune, Jan. 8, 2012
“Six Children Are Killed by NATO Airstrike in Afghanistan.” New York Times, Nov. 25, 2011
“American Soldier Is Convicted of Killing Afghan Civilians for Sport.” New York Times, Nov. 11, 2011
“Pakistan: U.S. Drone Strike Kills Brother of a Taliban Commander.” New York Times, Oct. 28, 2011
“Afghanistan officials ‘systematically tortured’ detainees, UN report says.” Guardian, & BBC Oct. 10; Washington Post, Oct. 11, 2011
“G.I. Killed Afghan Journalist, NATO Says.” New York Times, Sept. 9, 2011
“Cable Implicates Americans in Deaths of Iraqi Civilians.” New York Times, Sept. 2, 2011
“Civilians Die in a Raid by Americans and Iraqis.” New York Times, Aug. 7, 2011
“NATO Strikes Libyan State TV Transmitters.” New York Times, July 31, 2011
“NATO admits raid probably killed nine in Tripoli.” St. Paul Pioneer Press, June 20, 2011
“U.S. Expands Its Drone War to Take On Somali Militants.” New York Times, July 2, 2011
“NATO airstrike blamed in 14 civilian deaths.” St. Paul Pioneer Press, May 30, 2011
“Libya Effort Is Called Violation of War Act.” New York Times, May 26, 2011
“Raid on Wrong House Kills Afghan Girl, 12.” New York Times, May 12, 2011
“Yemen: 2 Killed in Missile Strike.” Associated Press, May 5, 2011
“NATO Accused of Going Too Far With Libya Strikes.” New York Times, May 2, 2011
“Disposal of Bin Laden’s remains violated Islamic principles, clerics say.” Associated Press, May 2, 2011
“Photos of atrocities seen as threat to Afghan relations.” St. Paul Pioneer Press, March 22, 2011
“Missiles Kill 26 in Pakistan” (“most of them civilians”) New York Times, March 18, 2011
“Afgans Say NATO Troops Killed 8 Civilians in Raid.” New York Times, Aug. 24, 2010
“A dozen or more” Afghan civilians were killed during a nighttime raid August 5, 2010 in eastern Afghanistan, NATO’s officers said. Chicago Tribune, Aug. 6, 2010
“Afghans Say Attack Killed 52 Civilians; NATO Differs.” New York Times, July 27, 2010
In June 2008, NATO bombers attacked a Pakistani paramilitary force called the Frontier Corps killing 11 of its soldiers. New York Times, Nov. 27, 2011
“Afghans Die in Bombing, As Toll Rises for Civilians.” New York Times, May 3, 2010
John LaForge works for Nukewatch, a nuclear watchdog and anti-war group in Wisconsin and edits its Quarterly.
Wrong man was executed in Texas, probe says
Wrong man was executed in Texas, probe says
(Source: AFP)
He was the spitting image of the killer, had the same first name and was near the scene of the crime at the fateful hour: Carlos DeLuna paid the ultimate price and was executed in place of someone else in Texas in 1989, a report out Tuesday found.
Even “all the relatives of both Carloses mistook them,” and DeLuna was sentenced to death and executed based only on eyewitness accounts despite a range of signs he was not a guilty man, said law professor James Liebman.
Liebman and five of his students at Columbia School of Law spent almost five years poring over details of a case that he says is “emblematic” of legal system failure.
DeLuna, 27, was put to death after “a very incomplete investigation. No question that the investigation is a failure,” Liebman said.
The report’s authors found “numerous missteps, missed clues and missed opportunities that let authorities prosecute Carlos DeLuna for the crime of murder, despite evidence not only that he did not commit the crime but that another individual, Carlos Hernandez, did,” the 780-page investigation found.
The report, entitled “Los Tocayos Carlos: Anatomy of a Wrongful Execution,” traces the facts surrounding the February 1983 murder of Wanda Lopez, a single mother who was stabbed in the gas station where she worked in a quiet corner of the Texas coastal city of Corpus Christi.
“Everything went wrong in this case,” Liebman said.
That night Lopez called police for help twice to protect her from an individual with a switchblade.
“They could have saved her, they said ‘we made this arrest immediately’ to overcome the embarrassment,” Liebman said.
Forty minutes after the crime Carlos DeLuna was arrested not far from the gas station.
He was identified by only one eyewitness who saw a Hispanic male running from the gas station. But DeLuna had just shaved and was wearing a white dress shirt — unlike the killer, who an eyewitness said had a mustache and was wearing a grey flannel shirt.
Even though witnesses accounts were contradictory — the killer was seen fleeing towards the north, while DeLuna was caught in the east — DeLuna was arrested.
“I didn’t do it, but I know who did,” DeLuna said at the time, saying that he saw Carlos Hernandez entering the service station.
DeLuna said he ran from police because he was on parole and had been drinking.
Hernandez, known for using a blade in his attacks, was later jailed for murdering a woman with the same knife. But in the trial, the lead prosecutor told the jury that Hernandez was nothing but a “phantom” of DeLuna’s imagination.
DeLuna’s budget attorney even said that it was probable that Carlos Hernandez never existed.
However in 1986 a local newspaper published a photograph of Hernandez in an article on the DeLuna case, Liebman said.
Following hasty trial DeLuna was executed by lethal injection in 1989.
Up to the day he died in prison of cirrhosis of the liver, Hernandez repeatedly admitted to murdering Wanda Lopez, Liebman said.
“Unfortunately, the flaws in the system that wrongfully convicted and executed DeLuna — faulty eyewitness testimony, shoddy legal representation and prosecutorial misconduct — continue to send innocent men to their death today,” read a statement that accompanies the report.
‘US military, CIA out of control in Afghanistan’
US coming fire even by their own allies in Afghanistan for their attacks against Afghan civilians.
Mt. Rushmore land should be returned to Native American tribes, UN official says
[It does not ultimately matter whether some UN report states that the United States has done wrong by indigenous peoples in North America. The United States and UN will both ignore the report for the most part. Nonetheless, it just goes to show how hypocritical both the United States is and international law. The United States calls on the UN to enforce international law, and international law is enforced, almost only when it favors the United States and other imperialists. There is no real international law. Poor peoples of the Third World have no justice. -- NP]
Mt. Rushmore land should be returned to Native American tribes, UN official says
(Source: The Upshot)
The four granite faces of American presidents on Mt. Rushmore could be on land that is returned to native tribes. At least, that is one of the recommendations from a United Nations Commission that some of Native American tribal lands be restored, including the Black Hills of South Dakota, home to Mt. Rushmore.
James Anaya, a U.N. special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous people, completed a fact-finding mission that will include the Black Hills suggestion as part of his assessment of the U.S. compliance with the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
According to the Associated Press:
“The Black Hills, home to Mount Rushmore, are public land but are considered sacred by the Sioux tribes. The Sioux have refused to accept money awarded in a 1980 U.S. Supreme Court decision and have sought return of the land. The Black Hills and other lands were set aside for the Sioux in an 1868 treaty. But Congress passed a law in 1877 taking the land.
President Barack Obama endorsed the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2010, reversing a previous U.S. vote against it. It is intended to protect the rights of 370 million native peoples worldwide. Anaya is the first U.N. special rapporteur on rights of the indigenous to visit the U.S.”
Anaya said the report will likely be delivered to the U.N.’s Human Rights Council in September.
May Day into Loyalty Day
May Day into Loyalty Day
(new-power.org)
According to Wiki:
“[Loyalty Day] was made an official holiday by the U.S. Congress on July 18, 1958 (Public Law 85-529).[4][5] Following the passage of this law, President Dwight D. Eisenhower proclaimed May 1, 1959 the first official observance of Loyalty Day. [6]
With the exception of Eisenhower in 1959 and 1960, and the years 1966 thru 1974, Loyalty day has been recognized with an official proclamation every year by every president since its inception as a legal holiday in 1958.”
Recently, Obama continued this tradition by declaring that that May 1st is now “Loyalty Day.” The statement from www.whitehouse.gov states:
“Presidential Proclamation — Loyalty Day, 2012
LOYALTY DAY, 2012
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATIONMore than two centuries ago, our Founders laid out a charter that assured the rule of law and the rights of man. Through times of tranquility and the throes of change, the Constitution has always guided our course toward fulfilling that most noble promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve the chance to pursue their full measure of happiness. America has carried on not only for the skill or vision of history’s celebrated figures, but also for the generations who have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebears and true to our founding documents. On Loyalty Day, we reflect on that proud heritage and press on in the long journey toward prosperity for all.
In the years since our Constitution was penned and ratified, Americans have moved our Nation forward by embracing a commitment to each other, to the fundamental principles that unite us, and to the future we share. We weathered the storms of civil war and segregation, of conflicts that spanned continents. We overcame threats from within and without — from the specter of fascism abroad to the bitter injustice of disenfranchisement at home. We upheld the spirit of service at the core of our democracy, and we widened the circle of opportunity not just for a privileged few, but for the ambitious many. Time and again, men and women achieved what seemed impossible by joining imagination to common purpose and necessity to courage. That legacy still burns brightly, and the ideals it embodies remain a light to all the world.
Countless Americans demonstrate that same dedication to country today. It endures in the hearts of all who put their lives on the line to defend the land they love, just as it moves millions to improve their communities through volunteerism and civic participation. Their actions help ensure prosperity for this generation and those yet to come, and they honor the immutable truths enshrined in our Nation’s founding texts. On Loyalty Day, we rededicate ourselves to the common good, to the cornerstones of liberty, equality, and justice, and to the unending pursuit of a more perfect Union.
In order to recognize the American spirit of loyalty and the sacrifices that so many have made for our Nation, the Congress, by Public Law 85-529 as amended, has designated May 1 of each year as “Loyalty Day.” On this day, let us reaffirm our allegiance to the United States of America, our Constitution, and our founding values.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim May 1, 2012, as Loyalty Day. This Loyalty Day, I call upon all the people of the United States to join in support of this national observance, whether by displaying the flag of the United States or pledging allegiance to the Republic for which it stands.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand twelve, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-sixth.
BARACK OBAMA”
What is interesting about the rhetoric in Obama’s statement is that it barely indistinguishable from some of the populist rhetoric that pervades the Occupy movement. At present, at the national level, Occupy politics are, on the whole, Democratic Party politics, whether or not Occupy is a formal Democratic Party institution or not. Listening to the Occupy rhetoric on May Day, 2012, the overwhelming message was activist populism, Democratic Party populism. This populist rhetoric was challenged in certain places. The Leading Light and other anti-imperialist forces have continuously challenged it. Anarchist spectacles also have helped reduce the populist message, even if the organizers of such spectacles often share many First Worldist similarities with more mainstream populist forces. The populist sentiment of Obama’s “Loyalty Day” was also shared by the larger, mainstream migrant protests that occurred a few years ago. That such populism is pervasive, even among so-called “radicals” and marginalized communities, speaks to the difficulties of organizing in the United States, organizing without a real mass base. When almost all forces spout similar rhetoric in order to appeal to the same social forces, almost all roads will tend to lead back to the force with the biggest megaphone, with the loudest voice. And, in the United States, it is the Democratic Party and its fronts. This is why it is so important to oppose economism as much as possible. This is also why it is so important to have somewhere to lead people to that is not the Democratic Party, a political space that is not the Democrats’.
Syria arms ship impounded, crew held for questioning
[The West toppled the Gaddafi regime over the past year in order to extend their power in Africa and the Middle East, in order to plunder Libya's resources, and restructure Libya's economy along neoliberal lines. The regime in Libya is dependent on the West. It shows its loyalty by exporting pro-Western regime change, especially in Syria. Recently, a shipment of arms from Western-backed Libya was intercepted. This violates the terms of the Syrian peace process. Despite its claims, the West does not care for peace in Syria. It only cares about extending its power by toppling the regime. -NP]
Syria arms ship impounded, crew held for questioning
(Source: The Daily Star)
BEIRUT: Military Prosecutor Judge Saqr Saqr ordered Saturday that the 11-member crew of the Syria-bound weapons ship “Lutfallah II” be held for questioning, sources close to the matter said.
The sources told The Daily Star that the Sierra Leonean-flagged ship was carrying light, medium and heavy weaponry.
Saqr requested that the military police question the suspects and find out at which port the arms were loaded and to whom they were to be delivered.
In a statement released Saturday, the Lebanese army confirmed the confiscation of weapons on board the ship.
“The army intercepted Friday off the northern coast the Sierra Leonean-flagged commercial vessel “Lutfallah II”; the army and relevant authorities inspected the vessel and confiscated three containers with a large quantity of assorted arms as well as heavy, medium and light ammunition.”
The statement added that the eleven detained crew members are of various Arab and foreign nationalities.
President Michel Sleiman praised the army Saturday for seizing the ship, saying the measure is part of preserving civil peace and a translation into action of the Lebanese state’s decision to prevent the country from becoming an arena of conflict for others or a conduit for settling accounts.
According to his press office, Sleiman also stressed the importance of keeping the army and security forces alert to ward off risks that might incite strife, disturb stability, or adversely affect Lebanon’s relationship with its neighbors.
Lutfallah II, headed for Syria, was impounded by Lebanese authorities and transported to the Lebanese Navy base in Beirut port Saturday, after having been intercepted in Lebanese waters Friday and forced to dock at Salaata port.
The ship had left Libya for the Egyptian port of Alexandria and was on its way to Syria when it entered Lebanese waters.
The Lebanese Navy intercepted the vessel and directed it to Salaata in the north, whereupon an inspection of its cargo was carried out and weapons were discovered.
The owner of the ship is a Syrian identified as Mohammad Khafaja and its Lebanese agent is Ahmad Bernard. Khafaja and Bernard have been arrested, as has the customs agent tasked with unloading the ship’s contents — listed as engine oil.
The ship was transported Saturday to Beirut port accompanied by three Navy vessels. There is no confirmation on whether the ship intended to dock in Lebanon.
Syrian authorities have repeatedly charged that weapons are being smuggled from Lebanon into Syria to assist rebels seeking the ouster of President Bashar Assad.
On May Day and Occupy in the USA
On May Day and Occupy in the USA
(llco.org)
On the first of May, many people celebrate International Workers’ Day or May Day. Even though the day has not always been widely celebrated in the United States, its origins trace back to labor struggles there. May Day commemorates the victims of the Haymarket Massacre in Chicago in 1886. During a general strike by workers in Chicago, USA in 1886, a bomb was thrown by an unknown person. In response, the police fired into the crowd killing many workers. Also, many police died from friendly fire. At the first congress of the Second International in 1889, Raymond Lavigne, called for international demonstrations on the 1890 anniversary of the Chicago protests. In 1891, at the second congress of the Second International, May Day was formally recognized. Later, there were May Day riots in 1894. And in 1904, the International Socialist Conference in Amsterdam called for demonstrations to be held on May Day by social democratic and trade unions to establish the eight hour workday. May Day has since become celebrated in many countries around the world, sometimes as an official holiday. In the old socialist regimes, May Day was often one of their biggest holidays.
In the United States, May Day celebrations have diminished. The official holiday for workers is Labor Day, which is observed on the first Monday in September. Labor Day was established, in part, as an alternative to the radical May Day. Labor Day was promoted by more mainstream, reformist organizations like the Central Labor Union and Knights of Labor. Thus President Grover Cleveland moved the workers’ holiday to the Labor Day celebrated by the more reformist organizations in 1887. Fascist and reactionary states have often worked to eliminate or repress May Day. Even though the state actively worked to draw attention away from May Day, the main reason for the lack of strong May Day demonstrations in the United States can be traced to changes in global class structure. With the rise of US imperialism, the standard of living of workers in the United States increased. More and more concessions were won through reformist struggles. The economic burden was shifted onto Third World peoples. Social peace was won in the First World by increased exploitation and oppression of the Third World. Thus workers in the United States had less and less need of a May Day as workers in the First World became bourgeoisified. May Day became a holiday mostly for insignificant leftist sects and nostalgists. However, in the last decade, May Day has been revived due to protests by migrants in the United States against racism. Even so, May Day protests have been diminishing. The Occupy movement is seeking to revive May Day this year. Although, such a revival can be used by Leading Lights to educate and organize, the premises of the Occupy effort are deeply flawed. The revival of May Day is an honorable goal, however, Occupy profoundly misunderstand the balance of forces globally. A populist attempt to revive May Day, at best, will only gather support from the usual communities of activists and their allies. There may be some spectacles in a few major cities, but the kind of mass outpouring that Occupy expects will not happen. A real general strike will not happen. The general public in the United States simply does not want revolution nor is it in their interest to make real socialist, communist revolution. The conditions for real revolution do not exist in the First World, especially in the United States. The workers here do not have a class interest in uniting with the proletariat in the Third World. Workers in the First World have far more in common with their own overlords than they do with workers, peasants and lumpen in the Third World. Contrary to Occupy’s populist rhetoric, the reality is that most First World peoples are part of the metaphoric global 1 percent, not the global 99 percent. Populist movements in the First World tend to stroke up fascism and social imperialism, not proletarian internationalism. However, such movements will exist whether or not Leading Light participates. At least by participating, Leading Light has some ability to influence some attendees to break left toward internationalism, anti-imperialism, and communism instead of breaking right toward economism, chauvinism, populism, and fascism. Establish a pole for global equality, anti-imperialism and decolonization, revolutionary environmentalism, and Leading Light Communism this May Day. Criticize economism, populism, chauvinism, imperialism and social imperialism, fascism, and First Worldism generally. Participate. Educate. Lead.
CNN manufactures ‘news’ in Syria
Awhile back, CNN was caught with its pants down. CNN’s “on the scene source Danny” in Syria was caught staging events. CNN’s source and camera operator can be seen ordering gunfire and explosions in an area that is otherwise quiet. They are also heard discussing the script, which is clearly false. The Syrian government has stated that Western media is propaganda. There is certainly violence by both sides in the Syrian conflict, but this shows the class nature of the media.
This isn’t new. During the first Gulf War, similar cases of staged events were uncovered:
“Charles Jaco was the CNN reporter famous for covering the 1990 Persian Gulf War.
The first part of this video shows the stage set he was on, and he was clowning around with fellow CNN staff. The Saudi Arabian “hotel” in the background were fake palm trees and a blue wall in a studio. This clip was leaked by CNN staff.
The second part of this video was a live CNN satellite feed recorded onto VHS showing the final cut. Charles Jaco was wearing a different jacket, but he had the same act. The acting was terrible as Charles Jaco wore a gas mask, and his fellow correspondent Carl Rochelle wore a helmet. The sirens and missile sound effects are part of the stage set. The camera never pans out or shows the sky.”
Other media has also created fake videos:
SOMALIA: CIA transfers drone strikes to military
SOMALIA: CIA transfers drone strikes to military
(source: hrw.org)
(New York, NY) – Remarks by a US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) official suggesting the agency is not legally bound by the laws of war underscore the urgent need for the Obama administration to transfer command of all aerial drone strikes to the armed forces, Human Rights Watch said today.
The CIA’s general counsel, Stephen Preston, in a speech entitled “CIA and the Rule of Law” at Harvard Law School on April 10, 2012, said the agency would implement its authority to use force “in a mannerconsistent with the … basic principles” of the laws of war. The laws of war are not mere principles but legally binding restrictions on all forces of the parties to an armed conflict, Human Rights Watch said.
“When the CIA general counsel says that the agency need only act in ‘a manner consistent’ with the ‘principles’ of international law, he is saying the laws of war aren’t really law at all,” said James Ross, legal and policy director at Human Rights Watch. “The Obama administration should make it clear that there’s no ‘CIA exception’ for its international legal obligations.”
Preston’s statement coincides with a report in the Washington Post that the CIA is seeking authority to expand its drone campaign in Yemen. In the decade since the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Bush and Obama administrations have engaged in a campaign of “targeted killings” – deliberate, lethal attacks aimed at specific individuals under the color of law. Most of these attacks are reported to have occurred in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Somalia, and Yemen using unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, armed with missiles and laser-guided bombs.
The CIA is playing an increasing role in drone attacks with no transparency or demonstrated accountability, Human Rights Watch said. Pending transfer of command for drone strikes to the military, the Obama administration should ensure and publicly affirm that the CIA is bound by international law in conducting its drone operations.
While the laws of war do not prohibit intelligence agencies from participating in combat operations, states are obligated to investigate credible allegations of war crimes and provide redress for victims of unlawful attacks. The US government’s refusal to acknowledge the CIA’s international legal obligations or provide information on strikes where there have been credible allegations of laws-of-war violations leaves little basis for determining whether the US is meeting its international legal obligations, Human Rights Watch said.
The lawfulness of a targeted killing hinges in part on the applicable international law, which is determined by the context in which the attack takes place. The laws of war permit attacks during situations of armed conflict only against valid military targets. Attacks causing disproportionate loss of civilian life or property are prohibited.
In situations outside of armed conflict, the use of lethal force is addressed by international human rights law, which permits the use of lethal force only when necessary to save human life. In these law-enforcement situations, individuals cannot be targeted with lethal force merely because of past unlawful behavior, but only for imminent or other grave threats to life when arrest is not reasonably possible.
The US government has downplayed the applicability of international human rights law to drone attacks in situations in which there is no evident armed conflict, Human Rights Watch said.
“The Obama administration seems to have decided that wherever it conducts a targeted killing, it is by definition engaged in armed conflict, even far from any obvious battlefield,” Ross said. “What would the US say if Russia or China took the same approach to attack perceived enemies in the streets of New York or Washington?”
LA Police kill unarmed, fleeing teen with 90 rounds
LA Police kill unarmed, fleeing teen with 90 rounds
(SOURCE:PRESSTV)
A Los Angeles teen was killed by a hail of police gunfire on Wednesday night after eight officers fired 90 rounds in total as he appeared to point an object at them, according to The Associated Press.
Police confronted 19-year-old Abdul Arian following a car chase that was caught on video, during which he allegedly called 911 and warned that he had a weapon and would hurt officers if they pointed firearms at him. After he was gunned down, officers discovered that he was unarmed.
Arian also allegedly published a number of disturbing messages on his Facebook page, and “checked in” via global position systems to the highway where the police chase began, writing simply, “Home sweet home.” The pursuit began shortly thereafter when he refused to pull over after officers noticed him driving erratically.
“He wanted to be an LAPD cop, and the LAPD killed him,” the teen’s uncle, Hamed Arian, told The Los Angeles Times, adding that he believes the item in his hands was a cell phone.
“He was not depressed or anything, whatsoever,” he also told Los Angeles news station KTLA.
Confirmed: CIA secret prison in Poland
Confirmed: CIA secret prison in Poland
Another CIA-run interrogation ‘black site’ has been exposed after the confessions of top-ranking Polish officials blew the lid on the dirtiest secret in Eastern Europe.
The former head of Poland’s intelligence service secret Zbigniew Siemiatkowski has been charged with taking part in establishing a secret prison for the CIA in a remote part of the country. Allegedly, foreign prisoners in the detention center were tortured in connection with America’s global war on terror.
Siemiatkowski refused to comment on the matter, citing the country’s secrecy laws. However, he did not deny the report.
Rumors about Poland hosting a CIA-run prison had circulated for years, though the country’s authorities dismissed them as absurd. However, the UN and the Council of Europe had long claimed they had evidence of the site’s existence.
Former Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski and former Prime Minister Leszek Miller both repeatedly denied the knowledge of the prison.
The official investigation into a CIA-run prison in Poland started in 2008, a year after Donald Tusk took office. It took three years for evidence of the site to come to light.
Allegedly, a secret interrogation facility for terror suspects was operating in Stare Kiejkuty, a small village in remote Poland, from December 2002 to the fall of 2003, “depriving prisoners of war of their freedom” and “allowing corporal punishment.”
Earlier, two prisoners from Guantanamo Bay, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri and Abu Zubaydah, claimed they were prisoners at this ‘black site.’ Polish prosecutors have already given the two “victim status”.
Among other possible detainees are self-proclaimed 9/11 terrorist mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, perpetrator of the 2000 USS Cole bombing Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, and Palestinian terror suspect Abu Zubaydah.
According to the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, up to eight prisoners underwent “extraordinary rendition” to be tortured in Poland.
The harsh interrogation techniques used by the American spooks included waterboarding, starvation, cooling of the body, visual and acoustic deprivation for extended periods of time, slamming prisoners against walls, and mock execution, among many other methods.
Naturally, torture is not allowed in any European country, Poland included. If it is proven that Poland did in fact allow torture to take place at a CIA facility in their country, the matter could be taken before the European Court of Human Rights. The prosecution of Polish and American agents would also remain a distinct possibility.
“We can think about Polish intelligence officers who most probably somehow collaborated with the CIA in establishing this site. We can think about the CIA officers, because if they made it [tortures] in the territory of Poland – it is a crime,” human rights lawyer and head of the legal division at the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights Dr Adam Bodnar told RT.
“But as you most probably know, the US authorities would not give any data regarding them and would not allow them to be extradited,” he concluded.
Never ever again in Poland?
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk fully supports the high-profile case against the former senior official.
Tusk charged that Poland has become a “political victim” of US officials.
“This may be painful, but concrete evidence that Poland is no longer a country where politicians can fix something under the table and expect it not to [eventually] come out — even if they do so with the world’s greatest superpower,” Tusk stated.
In fact, the Polish PM was left no other choice but to recognize the existence of the CIA prison in his country. Tusk charged that Poland has become the “political victim” of US officials leaking some aspects of their bilateral relations.
“Poland is a democracy where national and international law must be observed,” Poland’s PM stated, demanding an investigation into the matter. “Let there be no doubt about it either in Poland or on the other side of the ocean,” he said harshly.
“Poland will no longer be a country where politicians, even if they are working arm-in-arm with the world’s greatest superpower, could make some deal somewhere under the table and then it would never see daylight,” he said in reference to the ongoing investigation which is meant to ensure that nothing like this will happen in Poland again.
The US never disclosed the whereabouts of the so-called “black sites,” but human rights groups named Afghanistan, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Thailand as the most likely hosts.
Lithuania was the first country in Europe to admit it had allowed the CIA to establish two secret detention facilities in 2002-2006.
In November 2011, Lithuania faced a lawsuit for hosting a secret CIA prison on its soil when Abu Zubaydah, a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay, claimed he was detained and tortured there.
US says “Assad must go,” increases aid to the opposition.. Social imperialists agree
US says “Assad must go,” increases aid to the opposition.. Social imperialists agree
(new-power.org)
At the recent so-called “Friends of Syria Conference,” US and other foreign powers decided to increase their support for the Syrian opposition. “Assad must go,” said Hillary Clinton:
“Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said that, despite a newly-brokered cease fire agreement with Syrian President Bashar al Assad, his days as president are numbered as his forces continue the bloody clash with Syrian opposition groups.
“We think Assad must go,” Clinton told ABC today after attending the one-day Friends of the Syrian People conference in Istanbul. “The sooner the better for everyone concerned.”
But she added that the process must be multi-pronged.The UN-Arab League peace plan and cease fire negotiated last week by envoy Kofi Annan is a good beginning, she said, but Assad has yet to stop the violence.
“There has to be a timeline,” Clinton said regarding the diplomatic process. “It can’t go on indefinitely.”
Representatives of more than 60 countries attending the conference pledged financial assistance to the Syrian Free Army, the main opposition group, in an effort to encourage further defections from Assad’s forces.
Clinton said the United States has agreed to pledge an additional $12 million for a total of $25 million in aid and to provide communications equipment to help the Syrian Free Army organize.
She met with the Syrian National Congress today to discuss how to document evidence of the atrocities for future investigations or trials in international criminal courts. A sanctions working group was also created to target those who are helping Assad.While some Arab countries have urged western nations to arm Syrian rebels, Clinton said the United States is trying to balance its support of opposition groups without raising expectations that can’t be met.
“We do have a stake in what happens in Syria, we just have to be thoughtful about how we pursue our role,” she told ABC…”
Echoing Clinton, many in the so-called “left” are supporting the imperialist attack against the Syrian people:
“In recent weeks, Egypt’s misnamed Revolutionary Socialists (RS) have stepped up their campaign in support of imperialist war plans against Syria. Since the beginning of March, the RS have published a series of articles denouncing the regime of Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad and criticising the imperialist powers for not launching a military intervention against Syria.
The RS are further attacking China for being complicit in killings in Syria. According to media reports, student members of the RS expelled a representative of the Chinese embassy from a seminar at the University in Alexandria on March 10. They attacked the Chinese representative for his country’s support for the Syrian regime, holding up banners reading: “Your country endorses the killing of our Syrian brothers”. A picture of the incident has since then been prominently placed on the RS’s web site.
China along with Russia vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution last month that was meant to prepare a Western-backed intervention against Syria.
The principal responsibility for the bloodshed in Syria lies with the US and its allies, not with the Assad regime. By calling for foreign intervention in Syria, the RS are exposing themselves as tools of imperialism, willing to endorse the type of imperialist intervention that devastated Libya, causing 50,000 deaths and installing a far-right Islamist regime in Tripoli…”
The article continues:
“Opposing social revolution at home, they support imperialist aggression abroad. In propaganda articles, they uncritically present Western-backed armed groups as “revolutionaries” and in some cases criticise the imperialist powers for being too hesitant to launch wars of aggression, while uncritically presenting unverified accounts of civilian casualties due to Syrian government intervention.
The RS recently published a piece by Yusef Khalil and the ISO’s Lee Sustar titled “Will Syria’s regime crush the revolution?” The article was first published in English on the ISO’s web site on March 5 and a few days later in Arabic on the RS web site. This article falsifies the events in Syria, gets caught in its own contradictions, and ultimately critiques imperialism from the right, for not being aggressive enough in launching war with Syria…”
More:
“It regards its campaign against Syria as part of a general strategy of confrontation with Iran to control the oil-rich and strategically vital Middle East. This strategy is ultimately bound up with broader plans in Washington to maintain the US’s global hegemony, and in particular to use US military strength to combat the increasing economic influence of China. Manifestly, the RS support these measures…”
Organizations like the ISO and RS represent forces loyal to imperialism and the First World. Lenin called such organizations social imperialist. They claim to be socialist, but in reality, they support imperialism. There are all kinds of forces calling themselves communist and socialist in the world. Scientific communists, Leading Lights, look beneath the surface. Being a communist today means understanding the balance of forces in the world scientifically, it means understanding the principal contradiction, it means understanding global class analysis.
Sources
http://news.yahoo.com/secretary-clinton-says-syrian-president-assad-must-163814047.html
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/mar2012/rssy-m26.shtml
Western and Gulf states admit funding anti-Assad forces
Western and Gulf states admit funding anti-Assad forces
(new-power.org)
A coalition of the Western imperialist powers and the Gulf states are engaged in a war against the Syrian and Iranian regimes. The Western imperialists have no interest in democracy in Syria or anywhere else. Their Gulf state allies, like Saudi Arabia, are the most anti-democratic in the region, some of the most patriarchal regimes in the world, restricting even the most basic human rights to women. The Assad regime is highly problematic, but the fall of the regime will increase imperialist hegemony in the region and set the stage for an imperialist war against Iran. Those so-called “leftists” who are cheerleading the destruction of the Assad from the belly of the beast only undermine the anti-interventionist, anti-war, anti-militarist movements. They have aligned with imperialism against Syria, just as they did so in Libya, just as they also do so against Iran. They are what Lenin referred to as “social imperialists.” They are socialist only in name; they are really agents of imperialism.
Mainstream media reports:
“An international coalition said Sunday that it will provide funding and communications equipment to Syrian rebels and opposition activists, reflecting a shift toward military options that might oust Syrian President Bashar Assad after a year of failed diplomacy aimed at stopping his crackdown on dissent.
Participants at a meeting on Syria, held in Istanbul, said Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries are creating a multimillion-dollar fund to pay members of the rebel Free Syrian Army and soldiers who defect from the regime and join opposition ranks. One delegate described the fund as a “pot of gold” to undermine Assad’s army.
In addition, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the United States is providing communications equipment to help opposition members in Syria organize, remain in contact with the outside world and evade regime attacks.
“We are discussing with our international partners how best to expand this support,” Clinton said.
The large-scale plan by Gulf countries to help Syria’s badly overmatched rebels offers a solution to the international divide over whether to arm the rebels or support them through only non-lethal or humanitarian means. It also reflects frustration with appeals to Assad to stop his crackdown on dissent, as well as hopes of forcing his ouster by shifting the military balance on the ground.
Conference participants confirmed the Gulf plan on condition of anonymity because details were still being worked out. It was unclear how the fund would be set up and monitored, or how the money, allegedly earmarked for salaries, would be guaranteed. A participant said the fund would involve millions of dollars every month.
The Saudis and other Arab Gulf states have proposed giving weapons to the rebels, while the U.S. and other allies, including Turkey, have balked out of fear of fueling an all-out civil war. Washington hasn’t taken any public position on the fund, but it appears that it has given tacit support to its Arab allies.
The salaries would aim to entice reluctant servicemen in Assad’s military to break ranks and join the insurgency. With Syria’s economy in a spiral, the Syrian opposition and U.S. and Arab officials hope soldiers will desert in large numbers and accelerate the downfall of the Assad regime.
At the meeting in Istanbul, delegates from dozens of countries also sought to increase pressure on Assad by pushing for tighter sanctions and increased diplomatic pressure, while urging the opposition to offer a democratic alternative to his regime.
Yet the show of solidarity at the “Friends of the Syrian People” conference was marred by the absence of China, Russia and Iran — key supporters of Assad who disagree with Western and Arab allies over how to stop the bloodshed. A peace plan by U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan has so far failed to take hold amid fresh reports of deadly violence.
“The Syrian regime should not be allowed at any cost to manipulate this plan to gain time,” Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in an opening address.
Erdogan also indicated military options might have to be considered, if Syria does not cooperate with Annan’s plan and the U.N. Security Council fails to unite in opposition to Assad. He referred to the vetoes of U.N. censure of Assad by Russia and China, which fear the measures could lead to foreign military intervention.
“If the U.N. Security Council fails once again to bring about its historic responsibility, there will be no other choice than to support the Syrian people’s right to self-defense,” Erdogan said.
Clinton also expressed skepticism that the Syrian government would observe Annan’s plans, which call for an immediate cease-fire and a Syrian-led negotiation process.
“Nearly a week has gone by, and we have to conclude that the regime is adding to its long list of broken promises,” Clinton said. “The world must judge Assad by what he does, not by what he says. And we cannot sit back and wait any longer.”
Clinton urged unity behind a plan that includes more sanctions, humanitarian aid, support for the opposition and the promise of justice one day for regime figures involved in atrocities.
Burhan Ghalioun, leader of the opposition Syrian National Council, called for the strengthening of Syrian rebel forces as well as “security corridors” inside Syria, a reference to internationally protected zones on Syrian territory that would allow the delivery of aid to civilians. However, the nations meeting in Istanbul have so far failed to agree on such an intervention, which could involve the risky deployment of foreign security forces.
“No one should allow this regime to feel at ease or to feel stronger by giving them a longer maneuvering area,” he said, reflecting fears that Assad would try to use the Annan plan to prolong his tenure. “It’s enough that the international community has flirted with the regime in Syria. Something has to change.”
In a statement, the Syrian National Council said weapons supplies to the opposition were not “our preferred option” because of the risk they could escalate the killing of civilians, but it appealed for technical equipment to help rebels coordinate.
“For these supplies to be sent, neighboring countries need to allow for the transfer via their sea ports and across borders,” the council said.
The one-day meeting followed an inaugural forum in Tunisia in February. Since then, Syrian opposition figures have tried to convince international sponsors that they can overcome their differences and shape the future of a country whose autocratic regime has long denied the free exchange of ideas.
Syria blasted the conference, calling it part of an international conspiracy to kill Syrians and weaken the country.
A front-page editorial in the official Al-Baath newspaper called it a “regional and international scramble to search for ways to kill more Syrians, sabotage their society and state, and move toward the broad objective of weakening Syria.”
In Istanbul, police used tear gas and batons to disperse a group of about 40 Assad supporters who tried to approach the conference building. Many held portraits of the Syrian leader. One man waved Chinese and Russian flags.”
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syria-conference-gulf-countries-fund-rebels-123236191.html
Social Media Scam Alert: Top Ten Ways to Tell Kony is Phony. The Hidden Agenda is to Invade Africa
Black Agenda Report is far from the first or the only news source to point that Kony 2012 is a warmongering hoax, and we certainly won’t be the last. As our contribution, we here offer our top ten reasons why Kony is phony.
Reason #10: Invisible Children is funded by a core of notorious right wing donors including the Discovery Institute, which Bruce Wilson fingered in a March 11 Talk 2 Action piece as the leading funder of efforts to promote the replacement of biological sciences in schools with “intelligent design,” along with the Caster Foundation and the National Christian Foundation, all prominent backers of anti-gay referenda, politicians and initiatives in the United States and around the world. The Ugandan regime of Yoweri Museveni is a favorite of theirs for having passed legislation making it a criminal offense to be gay, punishable by a life sentence. Credible African journalists like Keith Harmon Snow have also alleged that Invisible Children’s white and male leaders have direct personal connections to US intelligence agencies.
Reason #9: Invisible Children and Kony 2012 don’t tell us that the Ugandan government of Yoweri Museveni, one of the “good guys” in the Kony 2012 universe, is also accused by the same International Criminal Court before which it wants to bring Joseph Kony, of using tens of thousands of child soldiers in its genocidal depredations in neighboring Congo, where Uganda and six other African nations invaded and killed an estimated 5 to 6 million Congolese in the late 1990s and early 2000s, a larger death toll than anyplace on planet Earth since the second world war. Bruce Wilson’s excellent March 8 Talk 2 Action article “Invisible Children” Co-founder (KONY 2012) Hints It’s About Jesus, and Evangelizing links to numerous sources for this and much else.
Reason #8: Invisible Children and the Kony 2012 video also don’t tell us that Uganda’s Museveni replaced a president and rival general from the Acholi region of northern Uganda, the same ethnic group as Kony’s LRA. The Ugandan government has evicted hundreds of thousands of Acholi from their lands and confined them to desperate and squalid refugee camps for more than XYZ years.
Kony and his LRA did commit monstrous crimes in previous decades, but by now are said to number only a few hundred combatants. Kony may not even have set foot in Uganda in years, but he and the LRA are useful as convenient bogeymen to justify the continued dispossession of Uganda’s Acholi, whose chief misfortunes besides the LRA itself, are having produced rivals to Museveni and living at the edge of a resource-rich region that stretches across Uganda’s borders for hundreds of miles into Congo and Sudan.
Reason #7: Invisible Children and Kony 2012 are lying when they attribute the disappearance of all 30,000 missing northern Ugandan children to the LRA.
The truth is that some of the child soldiers the Ugandan government used in neighboring Congo were abducted in northern Uganda, nobody knows how many, and a large but unknown portion of that region’s civilian dead, many of them Acholi, perished at the hands of Uganda’s government, which always had far more firepower and resources than the LRA, and just as little regard for the property and lives of innocent civilians and their children.
Reason #6: Threats of massive foreign intervention into civil conflict do not bring adversaries to the table. Instead they make it unnecessary for those on whose side the foreigners intervene to negotiate at all, and leave nothing for the other side to negotiate over. Uganda needs an end to violence, and resources devoted to building its civil society, not more military aid.
Reason #5: The United States, the other “good guy” in Kony 2012′s imaginary world basically invented the modern African child soldier in the late 1970s and early 80s, so their commitment to “ending child soldiers” is a bit suspect.
Apartheid South Africa was bordered Portuguese ruled Angola and Mozambique, with their own vicious versions of apartheid until 1974. In that year, despite massive US and NATO aid, the Portuguese army rebelled, refused to continue fighting against African independence and overthrew its own government at home. White South Africa was deeply threatened by having independent black regimes now at its borders. So, with US funding it helped create and arm “contra” guerilla forces, UNITA in Angolan and RENAMO in Mozambique to burn schools and clinics, to mine orchards and roads, commit mass rapes, mutilations and murders, terrorizing citizens in their own country.
Lacking foreign troops or popular support , but with US aid and plenty of firepower, UNITA and RENAMO hit upon the innovation of kidnapping and enslaving child soldiers to carry out their despicable mission. Both were effusively praised and lavishly funded by Barack Obama’s favorite president Ronald Reagan, and their leaders welcomed at the White House.
The chaos and social demoralization spread by Western financed armies of nihilistic child soldiers made them an ideal tool for use in whatever African setting the West wished to delay or prevent the emergence of African civil societies and central governments which might succumb to popular demands to develop a country’s resources for its people rather than to benefit foreign interests. Employed in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Congo, Rwanda, Uganda and elsewhere, “failed states” infested by murderous child soldiers in the 80s and 90s proved to be incredibly good business environments for (mostly) Western extraction of hundreds of billions worth of timber, gold, diamonds, coltan and other vital African resources.
Reason #4: Depending on movie stars and celebrities is the precise opposite of building the backbone and habits of a vibrant and self-aware civic movement.
This kind of so-called activism reinforcing a slavish worship of celebrity culture, acceptance of corporate marketers who tell us what to eat, wear, covet, consume or shun and convince us it was our idea, not theirs. The real deal is that FaceBook, Twitter and much of crowd-sourced culture are fundamentally the master’s tools, clicktivism, not activism.
It’s never easy, and may not even be possible for slaves to free themselves with the master’s tools. That ain’t what they were designed for. Most of those forwarding and FaceBooking the Kony 2012 video, including some of the celebrities, as Keith Harmon Snow points out, probably can’t find Uganda on a map.
Reason #3: When both corporate parties, the entire corporate media universe, a constellation of celebrities and movie stars, all the right wing and much of the establishment liberal church along with the whole bag of bipartisan foreign policy experts agree on the need for decisive military action, you can bet the course of wisdom and truth is just about always in the opposite direction. Republicans and Democrats voted to send troops to Vietnam, and only a single congresswoman voted against war in Afghanistan.
Reason #2: Kony 2012 and the campaign to keep US boots on the ground in Central Africa are all about the oil.
And the diamonds.
And the gold.
And the coltan, and the water.
Uganda’s northern region contains vast oil reserves, and neighboring Congo is the source of most of the planet’s coltan, a highly conductive compound used in every cell phone, computer, aircraft, automobile, missile, GPS or other electronic device on earth.
Reason #1: It’s all about white people, the white West and their First Black President doing their imperial and colonial thing, running the planet for their benefit at everybody else’s expense and feeling good about it, saving hapless & hopeless black Africans from themselves. Such a deal. If they wanted to take Kony down, they could have done it last week, last year, five or ten years ago. If they do take him down it’ll be cause their Kony tool has outlived its usefulness, and maybe they need to plant a big wet sloppy kiss on Museveni and his gang, a bigger and more important bag of fools and tools.
The good news about Kony 2012 is that unlike the similar “Save Darfur” scam, many voices have been quick to express skepticism, disbelief and flat out ridicule of the Kony 2012 hoax.
The bad news is that US corporate media, Republicans, Democrats, the Obama White House and State Department as well as rabid Tea Party senators and congress creatures all being permanent cheerleaders for war and empire, few of Kony 2012′s many critics will get on the TV stations that caused Invisible Children’s video to “go viral.” Mark Twain said a hundred years ago — talking about genocidal Western exploitation of the Congo, in fact, that a lie can flash across the world in the time the truth takes to put its boots on. But the boots are on. The truth is out here, and you are responsible for helping it overtake the lie.
So forward the link to this article to your friends. Put it on your FaceBook page.
Tweet it and repeat it and send it to as many of your family, friends, colleagues, associates, bosses, employees and acquaintances as you can. Tomorrow, when we record a YouTube video of it, do the same with that. The cure for fake “awareness” campaigns that justify US military intervention in Africa is the truth. Don’t be used. Do study history, Africa’s and your own. And do make history.
Bruce A. Dixon is managing editor at Black Agenda Report, and lives in Marietta GA, where he is a member of the state committee of the Georgia Green Party. Contact him at Bruce.Dixon@BlackAgendaReport.com
Bruce A. Dixon is a frequent contributor to Global Research. Global Research Articles by Bruce A. Dixon
Phony 2012.. another war for oil and hegemony in Africa
Phony 2012.. another war for oil and hegemony in Africa
(from Global Equality)
Recently, there is a slick propaganda campaign to drum up support for a US-led war in Uganda against the Lord’s Resistance Army and its warlord leader Joseph Kony. The campaign is led by “Invisible Children, Inc.” a non-transparent and shadowy NGO, founded by fundamentalist Christians who have supported CIA-backed forces in Africa. The leaders of Invisible Children, Inc. even posed with the SPLA, a group opposed to Kony that also uses child soldiers:
The campaign pulls on all the heartstrings in order to get the US public to support the “Get Kony” campaign in 2012. The war is really about securing US interests in the region, specifically securing Uganda’s oil reserves and extending US power. Kony is not even in Uganda at present. His forces have been dwindling for a long time. Kony operates in a region with numerous other warlord, tribal, and comprador forces. Many of them are supported by the US, and also have a history of using child soldiers. So there is extreme hypocrisy in this campaign to have the US go save the children of Africa, when the US supports numerous other similar forces. In addition, the whole reason Africa is poor is because of hundreds of years of Western imperialism in the region. Asking the US to save Africa is inviting the fox into the chicken coop. People need to see through this propaganda campaign. The US is not interested in solving the problems of Africa. The US is interested in its own wealth and power. Warlordism and tribalism are problems in Africa. However, these problems are merely symptoms of the current system based on inequality and greed. We need to address these problems on a global level. We need to rid the world of imperialism, capitalism, patriarchy, consumerism, and a system that plunders the Earth. We need Global Equality and sustainability. We need to focus on the real issues, not fall into another war.
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